Authorities say they found suspect hiding 2 blocks from crime scene

February 15, 2014|By Joseph Ruzich and Alicia Fabbre, Special to the Tribune

An officer collects evidence in the driveway of a home located on Emery Avenue after a shooting in Romeoville. (Corey R. Minkanic, for the Tribune)

A 23-year-old Cicero man was charged in connection with a shooting on Thursday that left a woman and her 15-year-old daughter wounded outside of their Romeoville home, Will County officials said Friday.

Erick M. Maya, 23, of the 5600 block of Park Avenue in Cicero, was charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated battery with a firearm and one count of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, said Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow.

Maya had a previous dating relationship with the girl, who is a freshman at Romeoville High School, officials said.

A warrant for Maya's arrest was signed late Friday afternoon. Bond was set on the warrant at $5 million.

Maya is expected to appear Saturday at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet.

Romeoville police Chief Mark Turvey said Friday that the teenage girl was in critical condition at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. He said the mother was in good condition at Loyola.

Police apprehended four individuals shortly after the shooting for questioning, but two of them were released and the third individual was transferred to the Will County Jail because of a warrant from another incident, according to Turvey.

The 33-year-old mother was preparing to take her daughter to school. They got into their car in the 300 block of Emery Avenue at about 7 a.m. when a person walked up and fired several shots through the passenger window of the car, police said. The girl was shot in the head twice and the woman was shot in the neck before the gunman fled.

Turvey said Maya was found hiding under a deck behind a house on Hickory Street two blocks from the incident.

The weapon, believed to be a revolver, has not been found. Police plan to continue searching for it on Saturday.